Link directly to a project screen or screen group

Use a custom URL to bypass the Mobile Access web interface and link directly to a specific project screen or screen group.

In most cases, you would use the Mobile Access web interface to log onto your project runtime server and then navigate through your project. If you often visit a specific project screen or screen group, however, you might want to bookmark it and skip the rest of the navigation. To do that, you can compose a custom URL that includes the server address, the specific version of the Mobile Access Runtime software, the name of the project screen or screen group, and if you wish, your user credentials.

When you compose and use this custom URL, your primary concern should be project security. If the project security system has been enabled, you are required to log onto the project runtime server before you can view any project screens. Therefore, you must decide whether to include your user credentials in the URL. If you do, you will be automatically logged on and then taken to the screen. If you do not, you will be prompted to log on before proceeding to the screen.

The key here is that if you save the custom URL with your user credentials, anyone who has an opportunity to examine the URL — for example, by copying your bookmark or by watching over your shoulder while you use it — might learn your credentials. You must consider the possibilities and weigh your convenience against project security.

You do not need to be concerned about having your user credentials intercepted on the network because they are never actually sent over the network as part of the custom URL. The number sign (#) in the URL indicates that the following text should be handled by the browser itself. It is typically used to jump to an anchor in a webpage (for example, chapter04.html#section02), but in this case, the browser — specifically, the browser's XmlHttpRequest object — parses the text and then sends it directly to Mobile Access. As long as SSL encryption is enabled in the web server, this direct communication between the browser and Mobile Access should be secure.

Note: Custom URLs that use a question mark (?) instead of a number sign (#) are still supported by the current version of Mobile Access, in order to maintain backward compatibility, but you should update your bookmarks as soon as possible.

In some cases, the project security system is configured to log users off after a specified period. (For more information about the Auto LogOff settings, see Creating and configuring groups.) When it does, the browser will be redirected to the Mobile Access Logon page and the custom information will be stripped from the URL in the browser's address bar. This is to prevent other people from using an unattended computer to reload the URL and view the project screen.

There are four ways to compose the custom URL:

Screen only

This URL will take you to the Mobile Access Logon page, where you will be prompted for your user name and password. After you log on, you will be redirected to the specified project screen or screen group.

https://<host name or IP address>/<VersionNumber>/index.html#screen=<screen name>

Example for default version:

https://scada.ourcompany.com/MA/index.html#screen=animations

Example for specific version:

https://scada.ourcompany.com/AVEVAEdge 2026/index.html#screen=Animations

Screen, with guest logon

This URL will log you on as a guest user and take you directly to the specified project screen or screen group.

https://<host name or IP address>/<VersionNumber>/index.html#screen=<screen name>&guestuser=1

Example for default version:

https://scada.ourcompany.com/MA/index.html#screen=animations&guestuser=1

Example for specific version:

https://scada.ourcompany.com/AVEVAEdge2026/index.html#screen=Animations&guestuser=1

Screen, with user name

This URL will take you to the Mobile Access Logon page and automatically enter the specified user name. You will be prompted for the corresponding password. After you log on, you will be redirected to the specified project screen or screen group.

https://<host name or IP address>/<VersionNumber>/index.html#screen=<screen name>&user=<user name>

Example for default version:

https://scada.ourcompany.com/MA/index.html#screen=animations&user=Operator112

Example for specific version:

https://scada.ourcompany.com/AVEVAEdge2026/ind6x.html#screen=Animations&user=Operator112

Screen, with user name and password

This URL will automatically log you on as the specified user and then take you directly to the specified project screen or screen group.

https://<host name or IP address>/<VersionNumber>/index.html#screen=<screen name>&user=<user name>&password=<password>

Example for default version:

https://scada.ourcompany.com/MA/index.html#screen=animations&user=Operator112&password=eWi28fb2

Example for specific version:

https://scada.ourcompany.com/AVEVAEdge2026/index.html#screen=Animations&user=Operator112&password=eWi28fb2

Notes

This procedure only works for the project screens and screen groups that have been saved as HTML. It does not work for any other screens, nor does it work for the Alarm, Process Values, or Trend controls in the web interface.

If you are linking to a screen group instead of a project screen, you must include the screen group file extension in the custom URL (for example, index.html#screen=group.sg).

URLs might be case-sensitive, depending on the host's operating system and/or web server.

Mobile Access supports character encoding — that is, substituting character codes for special, non-ASCII characters — in the custom URL. Character encoding is most often used to allow for spaces in screen and user names; you can substitute the character code %20 for each space in the custom URL (for example, index.html#screen=main%20screen). It can be used for any special characters, however, as long as you know the appropriate character codes. For more information, go to: http://www.w3schools.com/tags/ref_urlencode.asp

Some browsers automatically encode whatever you type in the address bar, which means you can type the custom URL with spaces (or other special characters) as you normally would. Not all browsers do this, however, so you should test your custom URL in the browser(s) that you use and be prepared to manually encode, if necessary.